Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Crisis over Foreign Relations of the US Series

Posted by
Mary L. Dudziak

"In a tense and adversarial meeting at the State Department yesterday, the chairman of the Department’s Historical Advisory Committee warned that the future of the Department’s “Foreign Relations of the United States” (FRUS) series, which is the official record of U.S. foreign policy, is in jeopardy due to mismanagement by the Office of the Historian. Underscoring his concerns, he announced his resignation from the Committee."

So began a dramatic post on Secrecy News recently. FRUS is a crucial source for foreign affairs history, and is important as well for historians who place U.S. history, including legal history, in a global context. (In other words, if you're not familiar with it, you probably should be.) The post continued:

An Assistant Secretary of State rebuffed the criticism. He accused Committee members of engaging in innuendo and ad hominem attacks, and he abruptly walked out of the meeting.

It is hard to know how the production of FRUS can move forward effectively in this context. Secrecy News simply reports on this breakdown, and doesn't offer solutions. Reforming the FRUS process, and the overall issue of release of federal foreign relations documents, will soon be in the hands of future Sec. of State Clinton -- not known as a friend of open records. Stay tuned.